A water plan, unplugged

Matthew Pearson, OTTAWA CITIZEN03.24.2014

Of the 4,500 kilometres of rivers, creeks and streams within its boundaries, 78 per cent pass through private land; six per cent pass through National Capital Commission land in the Greenbelt, and another six per cent through land owned by federal and provincial governments.Pat McGrath
/ Ottawa Citizen

Coun. Maria McRae, environment committee chair, said the city’s water strategy should help the city in its efforts to collaborate with an array of agencies, including five federal departments, four provincial ministries, three conservation authorities and two municipalities.Garth Gullekson
/ Ottawa Citizen

Of the 4,500 kilometres of rivers, creeks and streams within its boundaries, 78 per cent pass through private land; six per cent pass through National Capital Commission land in the Greenbelt, and another six per cent through land owned by federal and provincial governments.Jean Levac
/ Ottawa Citizen

Of the 4,500 kilometres of rivers, creeks and streams within its boundaries, 78 per cent pass through private land; six per cent pass through National Capital Commission land in the Greenbelt, and another six per cent through land owned by federal and provincial governments.Pat McGrath
/ Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — A long-awaited water strategy got the stamp of approval Monday from the city’s environment committee.

The 18-page plan — a key part of the effort to ensure the health of Ottawa’s watersheds for future generations — comes as the city seeks to promote drinking water, reduce beach closings, balance urban development with stewardship, and better adapt to extreme weather and climate change.

Here’s an unplugged look at the plan and what some people at city hall are saying about it:

Big collaboration

The city didn’t previously have a good handle on what its own departments, let alone other levels of government and local conservation authorities, were doing with regard to water, so that’s one of the main upsides of the plan, said environment committee chair Maria McRae.

And that should help the city in its efforts to collaborate with an array of agencies, including five federal departments, four provincial ministries, three conservation authorities and two municipalities.

“We’ve never done anything this big before,” McRae said.

Private land, public concern

Despite having more than 4,500 kilometres of rivers, creeks and streams within its boundaries, only 10 per cent of the waterways go through city-owned land.

The vast majority — 78 per cent — pass through private land; six per cent pass through National Capital Commission land in the Greenbelt and another six per cent through land owned by federal and provincial governments.

Better late than never

When the Ottawa River Action Plan — an omnibus of 17 individual programs or projects — was unveiled on Feb. 24, 2010, the goal was to have this water strategy in place by 2012. But that didn’t happen, and now the city says it will be up to the next council to actually implement it and recommend investments through 2018.

Ecology Ottawa’s Graham Saul said he welcomes the strategy, but said he’s disappointed it’s taken this long to get here.

“Here we are four years later talking about punting it into 2015, and that’s disappointing. But at the same time, at least we see the momentum beginning to grow,” Saul said, noting there’s no indication yet when in 2015 phase two is due.

McRae said councillors set term priorities in 2011 and are sticking to them. She also added that the current council can’t bind the hands of the next council, so that’s why investment decisions won’t be made until after the election.

In the meantime

Phase 2 of the plan might not come for another year, but the city has several water-related tasks on its 2014 to-do list.

That includes rehabilitation projects at Graham Creek and the Carp and Jock rivers, “green streets” for Sunnyside and Stewart, conducting more community stream cleanups and inter-agency meetings, and reviewing or revising subwatershed plans and continuing to update floodplain maps.

The city will also host its first water roundtable at city hall. No date has been set, but McRae said it will be open to the public and added that councillors are also being asked to suggest people from their wards who might be interested in being there.

Drink it up

For all its talk about water, the plan doesn’t say much about drinking water.

Ottawa’s two water purification plants use less than one per cent of the Ottawa River’s flow to supply residents and businesses with 290 million litres of drinking water each day, according to the city.

But Coun. Diane Holmes says she’s disappointed the new water plan doesn’t offer a lot in the way of promoting that drinking water or getting rid of bottled stuff in community centres and other city facilities.

“I don’t see much in here that’s action-oriented for 2014,” the Somerset councillor said.

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